I just had another Angel Red. It was a big beautiful red fruit, but the flavor was lacking (and it was not as sweet as I remember it last time). It's hard to say whether this is indicative of the variety, since there are so many factors that can affect fruit quality and flavor. Maybe the fruit should have been left on the tree another 2 weeks to ripen. But on a more positive note, I found this review on TropicalFruitForum.com: "Parfianka is considered by many as being the best tasting but this year, my first year with fruits, the Angel Red tasted better than the Parfianka. The Angel Red was sweeter and had better sugar acid balance to my palate. The Parfianka tasted like a Wonderful with very soft seeds. This could be because my trees are so young but remember that everyone's palates are different." - posted by simon_grow, December 27, 2013 - From what I have read, Angel Red is not really an exceptional variety among pomegranates, but it is an exceptional variety among the pomegranates that are ready to harvest in September. Therein lies the appeal of Angel Red to commercial growers, it is an early-producing variety; it's better than any other pomegranate variety commercially available in September. ( "Market Watch: New Angel Red pomegranate debuts in Southern California ", Los Angeles Times, David Carp, September 24, 2010 ) Most people seem to be saying that 'Angel Red' tastes like 'Wonderful' but with softer seeds.

From the research I've read, India has spent more time developing Hyacinth Bean than those of us in the Temperate regions. Here they are mostly grown for their flowers, for decorative purposes. Most varieties are difficult to bring to seed in the higher latitudes, due to daylength sensitivity, a common problem in tropical-adapted vegetables. The climbing varieties mentioned above (in my older post) all flowered close to the equinox, which was just a few weeks before frost. There are a few varieties bred in India that are day neutral, so they can be grown here. The funny thing is, the breeders were seeking bush habit... the day-neutral trait was just a side effect. Seeds of India sells two varieties in the U.S. I've grown one of them, a white-flowered variety with brown seeds; it flowers very quickly, 30 days after planting. "Valor bean Lakshmi" Are the beans eaten mature a particular color when dry, or does that not matter? Someone once told me that white-seeded hyacinth beans were the ones eaten as mature seeds.

These are not in mulch at all. They are growing in the soil where a tree used to be and I believe are growing on the old dead roots of that tree. The tree died some time ago, it was a lilac. I planted a butterfly garden around where the tree was. Unfortuantely some of these plants are now in danger of being lost because these things are popping up. I have some special plants in there (fern leaf peonie, peach maltese cross, unusual coneflowers etc.) that I may not be able to get again. I am being very careful about pouring the vinegar because I do know it will kill the plants but my hope is it will kill any spores that have dropped into the soil. I haven't had a chance to check out there yet today as I have been at work. I will when I get home later. Thanks again for all the ideas/help.

BBlood, I'm late to the party. Chinkapin oak acorns have the highest fat content of any of the white oak group. Still, you're gonna have to hull, grind and leach them to remove tannins. Otherwise, they're relatively bitter, like most acorns straight from the tree... and they're quite small, compared to many other acorns. Shellbark hickories... good! Large nut, with fairly thick shell; I have a hard time believing that Donna R's little Reed's Rocket pecan cracker can even begin to crack one - but she may have an exceptional hickory - I have a couple of really thin-shelled shagbark selections that I can crack with a Rocket... but have never seen a shellbark that you could even begin to crack with one. A hard-shell nutcracker, like Kenkel or Mr. Hickory... designed for use on black walnuts and hickories is your best bet. Stay away from cheap Chinese knock-offs... I've seen some copies of the Master Cracker that broke the first time folks tried to use them on a real nut.